A Student's Hand
by The Analyzer
Summary: Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei rarely had anything in common, but that changes the day they battle weariness and a murderous Digimon pack.


**A Student's Hand**

**By**

**The Analyzer**

Asanuma-sensei leaned against the post near the school entrance. She pressed her hand against her temples, trying to ease their throbbing. She sighed. Her headaches had been easing off ever since last year and she thought that they wouldn't be plaguing her as much anymore. However, they had returned with full force due to the events of last night…

"Asanuma-sensei?"

Asanuma-sensei opened the eyes she didn't realize were closed to gaze at the one who addressed her. The girl gazed at her in concern, the look mirrored in the white creature on her shoulder.

"Morning, Juri-chan." she sighed. "I see that you've brought Culumon today."

"Yeah, he wanted to come today." Juri said. "He wants to play with Terriermon-chan and the others."

"Terriermon-chan and the others?" Asanuma-sensei said, bemused. Usually, Guilmon was mentioned first by Juri. She was always fond of him.

"Guilmon is staying with Takato because he's sick, culu!" Culumon said.

"Takato-kun's sick?" Asanuma-sensei asked.

Juri frowned sadly. "Yeah, he caught it last night and it got so bad this morning he has to stay home today."

"Good to know. If he continues being absent, then will you give him work he'll miss?"

"Of course. I'll be helping him with the work so he isn't get distracted by drawing?"

"Thanks." Asanuma-sensei sighed.

Juri and Culumon traded looks.

"Are you alright, culu?" Culumon asked. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"No." Asanuma-sensei said. "The neighborhood dogs were howling all night."

"Oh, that sounds rough." Juri said sympathetically. "I wonder what was causing them to act like that?"

"That's the strange part." Asanuma-sensei frowned. "I've checked with some of the neighbors and some of them said their dogs weren't causing the howling. In fact, some of them were whimpering from it. The others said that they never owned dogs."

"That is strange." Juri murmured. For a moment, she looked a bit perturbed. "Anyway, I hope you get better!"

He hurried away, Culumon waving at Asanuma-sensei as he clung to her shoulder. Asanuma-sensei watched with bemusement as the pair met up with the other Tamers and their Digimon, exchanging worried looks and whispers.

*What was that about?*

Her tired mind wasn't in the mood to come to any conclusions, so she let it drop. Juri and the rest of the Tamers were resourceful enough to deal with Digimon issues and they had enough experience behind them to continue doing so. They didn't need their elementary teacher to stick her nose into it. Asanuma-sensei turned her gaze away and took out a card she tripped over on the way to work. As she mused about why pocketed it instead of chucking it into the nearest garbage can, a revelation made its way out of her slow mental processes She returned her gaze to the Tamers and noticed a discrepancy among the their ranks. At first, she thought it was Takato and had to remind herself firmly he was sick. Then her eyes fell on Kenta, who looked when not in the company of…

"Where's Hirokazu-kun?" she murmured.

She carefully returned her gaze to the students approaching from both directions. She noted the absence of anyone with a visor or a robot with compact features accompanying them. Asanuma-sensei frowned and checked her watch. About five minutes until school would begin. Already, the students passed by her with a quicker step and a quick glance back showed that many were beginning to reluctantly enter the buildings. The Tamers in particular lingered a bit, but after a minute, they bid farewell to their partners and joined the throng near the entrance. Asanuma-sensei sighed and ceased leaning against the post, pocketing the card. She needed to get to her classroom and begin preparing the days lessons. Fortunately, she knew a shortcut through the building, so she could arrive before most of her students did. She just hoped that her students wouldn't tax her strength anymore than usual.

Just as Asanuma-sensei was about to walk off, already planning how to avoid being bowled over by dashing students, a rush of engines rose in the air. She turned around just in time to see Guardromon soaring to the ground. He gently deposited a yawning, baggy-eyed boy to the ground.

"You sure know how to make an entrance." Asanuma-sensei said dryly. "Might I ask why you're late?"

"Hey, I'm not late!" Hirokazu grumbled. "I overslept a bit, but Guardromon was able to get me here in time, so you can't penalize me!"

"I might penalize you for rudeness," Asanuma-sensei said, "but I'm too tired to do that, so just hurry and get to class."

"Yeah, yeah!" Hirokazu grumbled, but he nevertheless jogged toward the building.

"Morning Asanuma-san!" Guardromon said politely. "You'll have to forgive Hirokazu, he didn't get to bed at the appropriate time. Do you need any assistance in getting to your classroom on time? I can fly you there."

"No thank you, Guardromon." Asanuma-sensei waved away the offer and began walking toward the building. "I think I'm familiar enough with the school layout that I could get to my classroom before a tired eleven year old."

* * *

The soft clink of chalk echoed in the classroom. Asanuma-sensei wrote words across the chalkboard, pausing to rub her eyelids whenever they became heavy. She was currently writing down the instructions for the pop quiz she unleashed upon her students, much to their displeasure. She had planned it a few days earlier, but the timing couldn't have been more perfect. She finished writing the instructions and dropped into her chair, her energy nearly spent. Now all she needed was to keep an eye on her students while she recuperated from the last couple of hours of teaching.

Her lack of sleep had been negatively impacting that area. She misspelled words whenever she spaced out, forcing herself to correct them and forcing her students to erase or scribble out in tandem with increasing annoyance. Certain facts that were part of the lesson plan slipped from her memory and it took a while for her sluggish thought processes to retrieve them. In addition, she was becoming very irritable, snapping at Miki for putting on makeup, ordering Juri to put her puppet away, and telling Ayaka to sit up straight. She was especially snappy toward those who she perceived to be sleeping, feeling that if she had to drag herself through the day, her students would have to cope as well. Asanuma-sensei was really relieved to have this brief respite.

Rubbing her temples, she swept her gaze around the classroom. Most of the students were quiet now, either scribbling down the answers or staring down at the quiz in frustration. Asanuma-sensei hoped the latter would be able to figure it out by themselves. She didn't believe she could give them any hints in her tired state.

Asanuma-sensei's attention was caught by something strange near the end of the second row from the windows. Hirokazu wasn't exactly pleased by the pop quiz, but he silenced his complaints when she gave him the glare. She caught glimpses of him writing or looking at the test grumpily, but she didn't give it much notice. Now Asanuma-sensei gazed at him intently. His head was nodding up and down repeatedly, his eyes closing and opening in near synchronization. Apparently, searching one's memory for an answer and writing it down wasn't the most energizing of activities, especially if one was sleep deprived. Hirokazu appeared to be battling the sweet temptation of just laying down his head and sleeping right there. Asanuma-sensei stared at the silent spectacle in annoyance. That boy better not give to the temptation. Bad enough she had to keep her tiredness at bay. It would be even worse if she saw someone like Hirokazu get the briefest of chances to experience sleep.

Asanuma-sensei tried to turn her attention elsewhere, but for some reason, her eyes kept returning to the bobbing head of Hirokazu. With every bob, his strength against tiredness seemed to be less and less. The entire thing was memorizing to Asanuma-sensei, but with ever bob, her irritation with it grew.

Finally, Hirokazu slowly leaned down and his head touched the desk with a sound between a sigh and snore. The sound of quiet inhaling and exhaling followed, audible in the silent classroom. Kenta and the others glanced worriedly at Hirokazu. It appeared that Kenta was going to try to shake him awake when a BANG rang out. Everyone jumped and turned their eyes toward their teacher, who had her hands furiously splayed on her desk.

"Hirokazu! Wake up this instant!"

If the slamming hands didn't fully bring Hirokazu from unconsciousness, then Asanuma-sensei's yelling did. He jumped back in a sitting position and swung his head around wildly.

"What – what – what?!" he sputtered.

"You've fallen asleep." Asanuma-sensei said. "During the quiz."

Hirokazu looked down blearily at his drool-strained paper covered in questions and half formed answers. He looked at Asanuma-sensei sheepishly.

"Sorry. I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

Asanuma-sensei wasn't amused. "Well then, you should have turned in early instead of staying up and goofing off."

Hirokazu's expression turned to a scowl. "Hey, I wasn't goofing off last night! For your information, I was out trying to-"

"Don't be rude to your teacher!" Asanuma-sensei snapped.

"Hey, I'm trying to explain myself!"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!"

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Um Hirokazu," Kenta said nervously, "Maybe you should just calm down…"

"Calm down?" Hirokazu turned to Kenta angrily. "Asanuma-sensei needs to calm down! She's angry with me because I got some wink of sleep while she has to stay up for a couple more hours!"

It was immediately apparent that that was the wrong thing to say.

"That's it!" Asanuma-sensei dug through her desk and proceeded to scribble furiously on the procured stationary. "Detention, Hirokazu-kun!"

"What?!" Hirokazu yelped. "That's not fair!"

"You spoke ill of your sensei and you are going to stay after to write your apology. I don't see where the unfairness comes in."

"But you don't understand!" Hirokazu protested. "I can't have detention, because I've got to="

"That's enough!" Asanuma-sensei slapped the folder on her desk, glaring at Hirokazu. "I won't hear another word from you. If you don't want to have your apology extension or an additional detention, I advise to remain silent from now on!"

Hirokazu looked furious. For a moment, it appeared that he was going to continue arguing, but then he gritted his teeth and lowered his gaze onto his desk.

"Well..." Asanuma-sensei said, anger leaving her like a deflating balloon, "Everyone, please return to your test. And no cheating; I'm not in a merciful mood today."

* * *

It was the end of the school day. Most of Asanuma-sensei's students have left the classroom, grumbling over the homework given to them. She remained in the classroom, correcting tests and papers, as she watched over her charge of one. Hirokazu wrote quickly as he dared on the apology form, grimacing as though each word written gave him great discomfort. He paused from it, presumably to regain his energy, when he looked up and found Asanuma-sensei staring at him. He scowled and she glared back until he reluctantly resumed writing.

Hirokazu had been moody all day. He hadn't said anything to her since their confrontation, but the way he darkly averted her gaze and grumbled silently to himself got his message across. Asanuma-sensei didn't expect anything less from a punished student, but the rather unsubtle cold shoulder was nevertheless annoying. Why couldn't he accept that he was out of line and accept the punishment? Hirokazu was writing the apology, but the looks he gave her indicated that it would be anything but sincere.

And he had been acting a bit strangely with his friends. Just as school let out and students were eagerly leaving the classroom, Asanuma-sensei saw Hirokazu pull Kenta over and talk to him quickly. Asanuma-sensei wasn't able to hear them over all the sounds of things being packed and happy chatter, but Kenta looked worried as he left Hirokazu to his detention. Asanuma-sensei was too tired to think about the possible importance of that scene. All she desired was for Hirokazu to get it through his head that he should not blow up at his teacher.

Though now that Asanuma-sensei thought about it, she was the one who blew up at Hirokazu first…

Asanuma-sensei shook her head. If Hirokazu hadn't gone to bed so late and thus made him vulnerable to the temptress known as sleep, then he wouldn't be in trouble in the first place. And even if he couldn't resist turning in late, he could have waited until school let out, which was what Asanuma-sensei was preparing to do. When one becomes an adult, one had to deal with large amounts of work that keeps one up late into the night and be expected to still work sufficiently after arriving at an unspeakable hour. The small logical part of her brain not clouded by sleep said that was too much to expect of an eleven year old and she should cut him some slack. She didn't notice that train of thought and, if she had, she would have replied that she was doing this for his own good and preparing him for the real world.

Asanuma-sensei was shaken out of these musings when she found the student in question in front of her desk, holding out the completed apology sheet stiffly. With equal stiffness, Asanuma-sensei took the sheet from Hirokazu's hand and gave a curt nod.

"You may go."

Asanuma-sensei watched Hirokazu disappear through the door without looking back. She wondered why she didn't hold him back and have him make a more polite exit, but she assumed that she didn't want to linger at the school any longer than she needed to. Her bed back home was waiting for her.

After grading the rest of her papers and talking with the other teacher's about certain matters, Asanuma-sensei was walking her way home, her feet taking her through her normal route while her mind still lingered on Hirokazu. She couldn't understand why she kept thinking about the punishment she gave him. Asanuma-sensei's thoughts generally didn't linger on those she punished, unless they were actually innocent or have been usually cooperative students. Hirokazu definitely didn't fall in the latter group, so she hadn't felt guilty about punishing him before. It was probably sleep deprivation playing with her thoughts. That was soon be rectified as soon as she got home.

Asanuma-sensei blinked as her attention returned to her surroundings. She turned her head left and right, as she noted the lower visibility around her. Was it just her, or was it foggier than usual? Asanuma-sensei was too busy getting ready for school to catch up on the weather and had over rummage the staffroom for newspapers to learn that today was supposed to be clear and blue. Even though she was loath to trust everything put into ink, all of the newspapers appeared to agree on that assessment. The fact the fog surrounding Asanuma-senei contradicted that assessment and she realized she could guess the source of the fog made her very nervous.

Glancing around worriedly, Asanuma-sensei picked up her pace. As she strutted swiftly through the neighborhood, she tried to reason to herself that her nervousness with the fog was due to potential muggers who might take advantage of the dropping visibility. She didn't want to believe that the fog wasn't caused by natural thickening fog, otherwise that would mean she was in danger of something bigger than skulking muggers…

A growl broke through the deep silence of the frog. Asanuma-sensei almost tripped as she skidded to a halt, heart hammering. Was that a dog? But the growl seemed to be too deep for any canine vocal cords…

Then the growl pierced the air again and Asanuma-sensei drew in breath. Something large was moving among the fog, some giant black shape prowling towards her. Even as it slowly came into view, even though she taught four Tamers in class, Asanuma-sensei still couldn't believe that she was in a Digital Field and that a Wild Digimon was looming over her.

The giant stripped wolf lowered its head to eye level. Asanuma-sensei thought it resembled a Garurumon and a vague part of her mind wondered how much she must have eavesdropped on the Tamer's card babble to have memorized that name.

The Garurumon's next growl was even deeper. Asanuma-sensei's heart went cold as she realized the Garurumon was slowly lowering to a pouncing position.

Asanuma-sensei had only seconds to react. The Garurumon snarled and leapt into the air. It closed in on her, its shadow falling upon her. Asanuma-sensei's thoughts were frozen, then a word exploded into her mind: _jump!_

Asanuma-sensei leapt to the side. The Garurumon's jaws closed on the place she stood. Then the Garurumon's muzzle collided with the concrete fence. It was momentarily stuck. Asanuma-sensei took advantage of the opening.

Asanuma-sensei ran. She pumped all of her energy into her leg muscles. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and that Digimon as possible. She wanted put as much distance between herself and the deadly and bizarre situation as possible. She wanted to be safe at home and curled up in her bed, catching up on her sleep. Swiftly analyzing her mental map, Asanuma-sensei charted the shortest route to her home.

There was the distant sound of concrete breaking and a furious snarl. Asanuma-sensei already turned a corner when those sounds occurred. She redoubled her speed even as the sounds of large footfalls closed in. Fear spiked as Asanuma-sensei realized that her human legs were no match for the large and muscular limbs of the Garurumon.

So she pauses near the concrete barrior and scrambles over it. Falling into the backyard in a heap, she dashes through the grass and onto the small porch. She raddled the locked glass door and slammed her fist into it.

"Let me in!"Asanuma-sensei yelled. "Please let me in!"

No answer came, so she quickly grabbed the porch chair and slammed it into the glass door. She repeated this until the glass shattered. She scrambled in, keenly avoiding the sharp edges.

She half hoped the blaring house alarm would alert the residents of her presence, but no one came bursting out of a door or charging down the stairs. So she dashed for the phone and swiftly dialed 1-1-0 for the police. Her fingers tapped the table nervously as she waited for the operator to pick up.

"One-one-zero, what's your-"

"I need help!" Asanuma-sensei cut the operator off. "A Digimon's after me, get me Hypnos please, or I'll-"

She was cut off by the distant sounds of wires snapping. Then line went dead.

"No! No, no, no!" Asanuma-sensei pressed police number again and again, but the line remained dead. "You can't go out now. Don't go out on me now!"

Her frantic number punching was interrupted by a horribly close snarl. Asanuma-sensei whipped her head in the direction of the glass doors just in time to see it smash apart. A giant blue paw was now groping toward her and Asanuma-sensei dropped the phone and fled up the stairs until she was on the third floor.

"Where to hide." Asanuma-sensei muttered, whipping her head about. "Where to hide!'

Her searching eyes fell onto an open door, beyond which a paneled bathroom could be seen. She vaguely remembered from a book she read that American families often took refuge in bathrooms to be safe from tornadoes. Her heart leapt.

"Yes." Asanuma-sensei whispered, dashing into the bathroom and nearly skidding on the floor.

She slammed the door behind her and locked it. She crawled into the bathtub, shivering, and waited. Maybe Asanuma-sensei could outwait the Garurumon, maybe if she hid away from it on the highest floor in this windowless room, it would lose interest and move on. Even if the Garurumon could reach the third floor, he wouldn't be able to reach her or find her. After all, from what she could remember seconds before, the bathroom was located in the middle of the floor. She was safe.

Then there was a giant crash and the bathroom shook. Asanuma-sensei yelped as another crash followed, then another. The Garurumon seemed to be slamming itself into the house, intent on toppling it. Judging from the many ominous groans and creaks and the way the floor tilted, the Garurumon would have little problem doing so. Asanuma-sensei toppled out of the bathtub and clung to the sink, her mind frozen as she realized her feeling of security had been feeble. Now she had to choose between being crushed when the house collapsed or escaping into the claws of the murderous Digimon. She didn't think her body could take the potential force of falling wood and pipe. Her only option was to escape the collapsing home and prey she could dodge the Garurumon and outrun it.

Steadying herself, Asanuma-sensei fell forward and flung the door open, nearly crashing into the wall as the home leaned dangerously. She made a beeline for the stairway. Even as she reached it, a section of the ceiling caved in. She leapt back just before a section of wood could slice her arm off. Panting, Asanuma-sensei watched the dust briefly clear to show a pile of wood and pipe blocking her only route of escape. As this sunk in, her heartbeat seemed to peak. Now her only chance was jumping thirty feet to the ground and hope that she survived the fall.

But just as Asanuma-sensei turned around to search for windows, the wall in front of her exploded. She braced herself as dust and debris rushed passed her. A groping shape emerged through the fog of dust. Asanuma-sensei gave a shriek at the Garurumon paw. To her horror, the paw seemed to pause at her shriek. Then it went in her direction. Asanuma-sensei glanced around for escape, but her only route was buried in a pile of rubble. She could only give another shriek as the paw closed around her body.

She was pulled through the hole in the wall, having to duck her head to avoid having the back of her head slammed through the ceiling. Next thing Asanuma-sensei knew, she was being pulled away from the crumbling balcony of the home just as it gave a final crashing implosion.

The Garurumon swung Asanuma-sensei's body. She found herself staring into its giant snout and the narrowed yellow eyes beyond it. She shrieked and closed her eyes as it gave her an inspecting sniff, turning her at different angles. Asanuma-sensei didn't know what it was doing? Perhaps the Garurumon was seeing if she was edible before it would chomp her into tasty bits?

The Garurumon stopped sniffing her. Asanuma-sensei braved opening her eyes to see the canine Digimon was staring down up at her triumphantly. She watched with fear as the paw raised her high into the air and threw her. She briefly floated in the air like a rag doll before gravity took hold. Her body briefly twisted so as she could see the Garurumon had opened its long muzzle closing in on her. As she fell, she could make out the details of its large mouth, its sharp teeth, its dripping saliva…

Then the roar of rockets filled her ears. Asanuma-sensei's body jolted as metal arms caught her and the distant whistling were followed by explosions and cries of pain.

"Nice rescue, Guadromon!" cheered a close voice.

Asanuma slowly turned her head. She got a glimpse of a very familiar visor'd boy sitting on the shoulders of a familiar green-eyed, rust-colored machine.

"You all right there, ma'm? Sucks that your house's gone, but at least you're not Digimon…chow…" the boy trailed of as she slowly turned onto her back to stare at him. His jaw dropped. "Asanuma-sensei?!"

"Hirokazu?!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I can ask the same of you!" Asanuma-sensei said.

"We got a call from Hypnos that someone here needed saving!"

"Yeah, I made that call! I thought that it didn't make it through!"

"Well, be glad it did and I made it on time too!" Hirokazu said, grinning. "Sorry we can't say the same about your house though."

Asanuma-sensei bristled. "Do you think I could have afforded three story house on a teacher's salary?"

Hirokazu blinked. "Well, no. But how was I suppose to know that wasn't your-"

A furious snarl cut him off, then Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei both yelled when their world tilted. Guardromon had just leaned to the side and a torrent of blue flame shot passed where they flew seconds before.

"I'm afraid we'll have to resume this conversation later, Hirokazu." Guardromon said. "Or else we might be taken down by that fiend!"

"Gotcha!"

Hirokazu pulled down his visor as his partner gave a wide turn, giving them a glimpse of their foe staring up at them furiously.

"Don't tell me you're going to fight that Garurumon!" Asanuma-sensei yelled.

"Well, what are we supposed to do, fly around until he gets bored and goes back to the Digital World?" Hirokazu asked. "Besides, that's not a Garurumon, it's a Gururumon! You can see that with the black claws and stripe pattern!"

"I'm only a peripheral observer of the card game, how was I supposed to know that?" Asanuma-sensei shouted.

"Hey, I'm just correcting you, that's all!"

"I'm ready to attack, Hirokazu!" Guardromon yelled. "Asanuma-sensei, I will have to ask you to climb onto my shoulders!"

They were now almost facing the furious Garurumon – Gururumon, Asanuma-sensei corrected herself. Asanuma-sensei's stomach lurched as she quickly but carefully climbed upon Guardromon's shoulders. She felt Hirokazu's hand help her settle in into position and gripped Guardromon's head tightly.

"Hey, you!" Hirokazu shouted. "You almost ate my teacher. I'll forgive you for that if you just come along quietly so we could send you back home!"

The Gururumon's only response was a snarl and a menacing swipe.

"Alright, you asked for it." Hirokazu sat straighter and pointed dramatically. "Let's go Guardromon!"

Guardromon made an affirming grunt. With his human passengers in tow, he descended upon the Gururumon. The tops of his arms seemed to open. Missiles with dramatically pointing gloves to seemed to emerge. They rocketed off, leaving a contrail as they closed in on the giant blue wolf. Next thing Asanuma-sensei knew, gray blooms seemed to explode from blue fur and they were rising skyward again, the Gururumon's pained yelps echoing behind them.

"Alright, now will you listen?!" Hirokazu yelled.

"No!" Asanuma-sensei yelled.

For a moment, Hirokazu's face twisted into a scowl of annoyance. Then he noticed her pointing hand, which was directed toward a brightening blue light in the fog. Then the scowl became a cry of alarm.

"Guardromon, dodge!"

Guardromon quickly tilted to the left and Asanuma-sensei nearly toppled over Guardromon's head as a torrent of blue flame shot passed where her pointing hand had been before.

"If he still wants to roast us, then I guess we still have to attack!" Hirokazu said grimly. "Guardromon!"

Guardromon obediently rose further into the air. As they gained altitude, leaning slightly as though preparing for a wide turn, Asanuma-sensei suddenly knew what was going to occur.

"Don't tell me you're going to have another go at him?" she shouted.

"Well, what do you expect us to do?" Hirokazu asked. "We can't exactly aim well in this pea soup of a fog."

"Why don't you use one of those cards of yours?" Asanuma-sensei suggested "I've seen you use those things on television. Why don't you whip out a card and finish him from a distance?"

"Sorry, don't have a card that could pierce this fog. Though…" Hirokazu trailed off and took out of his deck, rifling through it. Then he took out one triumphantly. "Yes, this would do it. Though we'll give him one last chance as we make another pass."

"Can't you at least let me off before you charge at him?" Asanuma-sensei asked. "You sensei doesn't want to get hit in the crossfire, you know."

"Too late for that now. He seems a bit interested with you and he might go for you if I dropped you off to the ground. At any rate, Guardromon and I will keep you safe as long as you're with us, right Guardromon?"

"Your life is safe with us, my lady." Guardromon said grandly as he began to descend.

"Well…all right!" Asanuma-sensei said uncertainty. "But if I get roasted by a stray blue flame, I'll…I'll give you a detention."

"Oh great, more detentions." Hirokazu muttered, but when Asanuma-sensei threw him a look, he added quickly. "Alright, deal then! And speaking of deals…" He slowly took out his D-Ark in one hand and selected card in a prepared pose. "Let's deal with this Gururumon!"

When Hirokazu uttered that line, there descent had gained speed and the Gururumon slowly emerged from the fog, teeth bared, blue flames flickering between them.

"Hey, this is your last chance! Cooperate so we'll get you home, or we'll have no choice, but to go all out on you!"

The Gururumon just opened his maw as more blue flames flickered

"Well, we tried." Hirokazu sighed. "Looks like he's going to have another go at us no matte rwhat we say. Let's not give him the chance." he slashed the selected card through the D-Ark slit. "Card Slash! Boost Chip!"

There was a faint hum of power and Guardromon gave a roar as they descended upon their enemy.

"Destruction Grenade!"

When the missiles were launched, they whistled with greater loudness and intensity. The Gururumon seemed to pick up on this, since he staggered to the side into the middle of the path. But the missiles merely turned toward the Gururumon's direction and exploded, the blooming smoke not absolutely hiding the orange fireballs. The Gururumon gave a yell and almost fell to the ground, but it merely stranded on his legs and fired another blue stream of fire.

But Guadromon merely dodged to the side. He fired another pair of missiles, then another. The Gururumon couldn't dodge in it injured state and he was dealt two more blows. Smoke obscured it from view, but the rumble of a large figure collapsing was as clear as day.

The Gururumon didn't have time to retaliate or dodge in anyway. There were two more explosions and the Gururumon let out a loud howl. Then it burst into data particles.

Guardromon slowly rocketed to the ground as the data particles spread out and dissipated. He gently lowered Asanuma-sensei and Hirokazu to the ground, who stared at the crater of cracked and crumbled concrete where the Gururumon used to be.

"You killed him." Asanuma-sensei said.

"Yeah." Hirokazu sighed, tipping his visor. "We tried talking some sense in him but he wouldn't back down and he seemed determined to kill us. There was no other choice."

"Does this usually happen?"

"Not all the time." Guardromon replied. "Sometimes, we can talk some sense into the ones who get here by accident, but I guess Gururumon there just wanted to feast on some tasty humans."

Asanuma-sensei shuddered at the memory as Hirokazu dug out his cell phone.

"Got to call Hypnos to tell how things went." Hirokazu said as he dialed out the phone number.

He pressed the cell phone to his ear and waited. As seconds passed, he frowned and redialed the number.

"Strange, this thing should work." Hirokazu muttered as he pressed it to his ear again.

His frown turned into a scowl. He brought the cell phone close to his eyes as he redialed again.

"Why aren't you working?" Hirokazu said loudly as he pressed the cell phone to his ear for a third time. Then he snarled and closed the phone, roughly pocketing it. "Stupid phone!"

"Maybe the fog's giving bad reception." Asanuma-sensei said, gazing around at it. "It IS pretty thick around here."

"The fog…" Hirokazu trailed off as he too stared around. "Why's it still here?"

"What do you mean?" Asanuma-sensei said sharply, her heart sinking.

"Whenever a Digimon's deleted, the Digital Field – the fog, by the way – goes away. But it's still here."

"Does that mean that Gururumon's still alive?"

"No, he's definitely gone." Hirokazu frowned and put a hand on his chin. "Though one of the Devas did…no, he's gone. There must be some other Digimon around here."

"You mean we'll have to fight again?"

"Correction, Guardromon and I will have to fight again." Hirokazu said. "How about we get you out of here first, like you've wanted to?"

"Oh, please do." Asanuma-sensei sighed with relief.

"Though in return, please call Takato or any of the others. As much as we'd like to be we're a one man army," Hirokazu briefly swelled up proudly, "I want someone else around just in case there's more of them."

"Oh, I will." Asanuma-sensei nodded. Though she didn't have her cell phone, she could always run back to the school and use the phones there.

"Great. Well then," Hirokazu put his arms around his head and turned, walking off, "Let's get you out of here."

Asanuma-sensei quickly caught up with him and walked by his side, Guardromon bringing up the rear. With that, the three set off.

For a few minutes, they walked through the fog. Asanuma-sensei flicked her eyes left and right, senses pealed for a footstep too loud or animal noise too deep. From the corner of her eye, she could see Guardromon also looking about like an alert guard. At first glance, Hirokazu didn't seem to be wary. But Asanuma-sensei had the suspicion that his senses were keyed up like the rest of them. She wasn't too concerned with how her escorts were keeping watch though. She was concerned about escaping this fog and escaping the danger within it.

As they kept walking and she began to wonder when they would near the edge, she felt her movements slowing. The strength in her each step strained, her slowly swinging arms seized up. It was as though Asanuma-sensei was struggling through water or gradually hardening concrete. Judging by the grunts of Hirokazu and Guardromon, they were facing similar difficulties. In the end, their legs and arms could move no further. The three were forced to struggle backwards until they collapsed back into the not-so-suppressive fog.

"Why…Why?" Asanuma-sensei gasped. "Why can't we get through?"

"Don't know." Hirokazu panted. "I don't remember this happening before. Guardromon?"

Guardromon didn't answer, but aimed his arms skyward. He unleashed a pair of missiles. They watched as the missiles entered the edge of the fog, slowing to a near halt. Then the missiles exploded harmlessly in the air.

"Looks like we can't attack our way through it." Hirokazu commented. "Guess we'll have to find the whoever else is in here and take them out."

"Oh great." Asanuma-sensei groaned. "Don't tell me you're going to drag me into danger again?"

"Hey, since we can't get through the fog, you'll have to stick with us. Don't you worry, you'll be protected."

"Unless you go and fall asleep on me." Asanuma-sensei muttered.

"What was that?" Hirokazu glared at the teacher sharply.

"Oh, nothing." Asanuma-sensei sighed. "This can't get any worse, can't it?"

"Unless you blow up on me again, things won't get any worse."

"What was that?" Asanuma-sensei snapped.

"Oh, nothing."

"Don't tell me you're dragging up your punishment now, of all times?" Asanuma-sensei said exasperatedly.

"Hey, you started it with that sleep comment." Hirokazu protested.

"I'm right to be worried about your sleep schedule." Asanuma-sensei looked over Hirokazu. "Let me guess, you still haven't got any sleep?"

"Hey, I'm fine." Hirokazu said heatedly. "Dangers about, so my adrenaline would keep me awake. Would you stop bringing it up? I'm not in the mood for your lectures."

"Don't talk to me that way." Asanuma-sensei snapped. "I'm your teacher and even off school grounds, you should show some-"

There was a rumble. Asanuma-sensei cut herself off as she and Hirokazu looked around in alarm.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

Guardromon slowly walked in front of them.

"Watch yourselves." he said.

There was an ominous silence, or something close to it. There was a sound just below the hearing of humans, something that the Asanuma-sensei and Hirokazu sensed, but couldn't hear. The pair slowly got up and unconsciously drew close to each other.

Then the rumbles began to appear. They came from many directions, slowly increasing in volume, like an approaching earthquake. As the rumbles slowly intensified, shapes began appearing through the gloom, many shapes. To Asanuma-sensei's horror, many of these shapes were all too familiar.

Hirokazu had taken his cell phone out and was typing the desired phone number repeatedly, swearing under his breath. It marked the sudden seriousness of the situation that Asanuma-sensei didn't tell him to watch his language.

The forms took the definite shape of Gururumon, glaring, snarling Gururumon. There were around seven of them, enough to fill the entire road. They glared at the trio, teeth gritted and seconds from snarling. Standing up front between them was an equally furious and rumbling mechanical canine.

Hirokazu had paused from his number punching to gawk at the mechanical canine. Guardromon was warily backing away from the pack, arms still aimed.

"I think we are out of our element, Hirokazu." Guardromon said slowly.

"You don't need to tell me that." Hirokazu replied faintly.

"What do you mean?" Asanuma-sensei asked nervously. "Who is that Digimon?"

"Metal…" Hirokazu gulped. "MetalGarurumon. Ultimate level to Guardromon's Adult level."

The hairs on the back of Asanuma-sensei's neck stood up. "I don't know what levels mean, but I can guess from the tone of your voice that's a bad thing."

"In other words, we need Takato or Jen or Ruki stat!" Hirokazu yelled.

The MetalGarurumon took a step forward and let out a metallic roar. Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei quickly jumped onto Guardromon's shoulders. As they struggled to get into a sitting position and get a firm grip, Guardromon rocketed off the ground. He dodged and weaved through the shots of blue flames, the raised claws, the snarling mouths. It was a miracle his human cargo was still in one piece as he ascended out of the reach of leaping Gururumon. They still had to dodge blue flames, but their aim became more off as Guardromon put distance between them.

"Where do we go now?" Asanuma-sensei asked.

"Some place where they couldn't reach us or sniff us out." Hirokazu shouted.

Guardromon rocketed off for several more moments as the columns of blue flames began to die off. Then he cautiously descended to a lower altitude so as to better scan their surroundings.

"The area over there would make a good place to rest and strategize." Guardromon pointed out.

The trio eventually settled themselves into the backyard corner of a particularly well off home with high fences.

"Hopefully, they won't be able to get to us here." Hirokazu said.

Asanuma-sensei glanced up at the high fence nervously. "Are you certain on that?"

"As certain as I can be." he replied. "Guardromon, keep your ears peeled, would you?"

"Right, Hirokazu." Guardromon marched forward a few feet and stood at attention.

"Now, let's see…" Hirokazu took out his cards and began sorting through them, his tongue sticking out of the side.

"What are you doing?" Asanuma-sensei said with annoyed tones. How could he be playing card games at a time like this?

"Seeing what cards would be useful against them." Hirokazu replied. "Maybe with the right combination, we might be able to hold them until the others come along."

"Hold them off?" Asanuma-sensei repeated. "You mean you can't evolve your partner and just stop them?"

"Afraid so. Guardromon and I haven't been able to reach Perfect, let alone Ultimate, yet."

"Oh great." Asanuma-sensei sighed, drawing her arms around her knees as she sat. "Of all the Tamers to rescue me, it's the weakest I'll have to put up with."

"Hey, don't start on me now!" Hirokazu said irritably. "I'm trying to concentrate on the right combo here!"

"Too bad you couldn't put that same concentration to your studies."

"Now look here." Hirokazu glared at her angrily. "For your information, concentrating in battle's a lot easier than concentrating on a stupid quiz, with the whole trying not to die thing and everything."

"Oh, I see. You'll only get passing marks if your life's on the line. That'll give me some thought on your future lesson plans."

"Asanuma-sensei, please." Guardromon turned and his concerned green eyes came into view. "I understand that you're frustrated, but you need to allow Hirokazu strategize or you won't have any future to plan his lessons."

Silence fell as Asanuma-sensei grudgingly closed her arms around herself. Card shuffling echoed through the thick air and she glanced at Hirokazu every now. She got glimpses of him staring thoughtfully or scowling at the cards. The minutes passed and Asanuma-sensei's glimpses revealed increasing scowling. It appeared that Hirokazu wasn't getting the cards he needed. Asanuma-sensei mirrored one of his scowls.

"Having problems?"

"You can say that." Hirokazu said, glaring at his cards as shuffled them again.

After around a minute of more scowling and shuffling, Hirokazu slammed the deck into the grass in frustration.

"Argh, c'mon Hirokazu think!" he slapped his knuckles into the side of his head. "Think!"

Asanuma-sensei sighed. "If only you could have gotten more sleep, then you would be able to think more clearly."

"I had a good reason for that, you know."

"Oh. I would like to hear this good reason."

"Really?" Hirokazu raised his face from his cards to quirk an eyebrow at her. "I thought you didn't want to hear it."

"If you're going to answer with that kind of attitude, then I guess I don't want to hear it after all."

"Oh c'mon, don't be difficult like that!"

"I can be as difficult as I want!" Asanuma-sensei snapped. "I've been kept up by howling dogs and barely got any sleep and now I have to deal with homicidal digital hounds!"

"Well, I had been chasing down these homicidal digital hounds late into the night!" Hirokazu snapped back. "In this same neighborhood in fact."

Asanuma-sensei blinked in shock. "What was that?"

"The Digimon we were fighting had been prowling around here last night." Hirokazu explained. "I was the first to get here, so I was running around and trying to round them up so we could talk sense into them. They weren't exactly cooperative, so they've been barking and howling like crazy and were trying to bite a piece out of me."

Asanuma-sensei's eyes widened. "So it was their howls that were keeping me up all night!"

"Oh, so that's why you've been so cranky." Hirokazu said blithely.

Asanuma-sensei grimaced and was about to retort when she suddenly thought the blitheness of the statement contained his usual thoughtless honesty instead of actual malice.

Hirokazu continued. "Anyway, Takato and Guilmon showed up and they began to go REALLY crazy, so we had no choice but to delete them, but one of them slipped through and managed to nick Takato."

Asanuma-sensei drew in her breath. "You don't mean he couldn't make it to school because he's…"

"No, no, no, he's still alive and kicking. Why would I mention for him to come and rescue us if weren't still around?" Hirokazu gave Asanuma-sensei an amused look. "It was very light, but it was across his back and it hurt him like crazy. I was too busy yelling for Growmon to get him to Hypnos to notice the last Gururumon escaping and by the time Guardromon and I began looking for him, he was nowhere to be found. We searched for him all night, but we couldn't find him anywhere, so we eventually had to call off the search and get whatever sleep we can. And then…you know."

Hirokazu waved his hand around the air sheepishly. Asanuma-sensei digested the tale as a shameful feeling settled into her stomach. The feeling must have shown up on her face, since Hirokazu began to stare at her nervously.

"Hey, you alright?"

"I'm fine." Asanuma-sensei sighed. "It's just, I realize I should say something."

"Like what?" Hirokazu said warily.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Asanuma-sensei said firmly, "I've been so hard on you today. I thought you were slacking off like you sometimes do and were being an ungrateful student while you were really still trying to recover from a life-or-death scenario. I was wrong and I'm sorry for all the hurtful things I've said."

Hirokazu stared at her, uncomprehending. He seemed to take in her hunched shoulders, her sad tone, and her regretful eyes. Then Hirokazu lowered his gaze so that his visor covered his eyes.

"Well, now that you've said that, I can't help but say I'm sorry too," he murmured, "I was being a bit of a brat to you, with all the snide remarks and name calling and stuff. I guess I should have read your state better and kept my mouth shut."

"No, I shouldn't have snapped at you, even if I was tired."

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have snapped back either! I'm supposed to show some respect to the sensei, after all!"

Asanuma-sensei and Hirokazu laughed. After a bit, the laughter subsided and they smiled at each other.

"I guess sleep deprivation could make devils out of anyone," Asanuma-sensei said.

"Yeah, right," Hirokazu said. After a pause, he hurriedly resumed shuffling through his cards, "Anyway, I better find a good combo or we won't be able to get any nice rest again."

"So death isn't a version of nice rest, huh?" Asanuma-sensei said sardonically.

"Hey, nice rest isn't nice rest if you can't wake up from it and then enjoy it. Otherwise, it's just boring oblivion. Right, Guardromon?"

A sound similar to slowly grinding gears was faintly echoing through the air before it snapped into silence. "Right, Hirokazu! Which is why you must figure out your strategy and I must keep on the lookout for if the Gururumon approach."

Guardromon seemed to do a robot version of nervous shuffling and stood stiffly at attention. Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei looked at each other.

"Don't tell your partner fell asleep and left us vulnerable during our entire argument." Asanuma-sensei said faintly.

"And got some more sleep along with all the time I was at school." Hirokazu scowled. "Lucky, 'mon!"

Asanuma-sensei didn't know if she should be worried he was more jealous of Guardromon's rest than that they could have become fresh pickings for the Gururumon pack. However, she decided to not endanger their fresh reconciliation.

"Have you found any new combinations yet?" she asked, scooting closer.

"Not really." Hirokazu glared at the arrangement he held. "My mind still has a block on coming up with a combo. I guess it's too much for my sleep-deprived brain to process."

Asanuma-sensei scooted even closer, an idea slowly blooming in her mind.

"May I take a look at them?"

Hirokazu gave Asanuma-sensei a startled look, which turned appraising. Asanuma-sensei feared this request might lead to a witty one liner, but he merely shrugged and began collecting all the cards into a pile.

"Sure, why not? Might as well see if you can find a combo I missed."

Asanuma-sensei cupped her hands as the cards were given to her. Spreading them across the grass, she picked a few and started scanning them. She wasn't exactly familiar with the parameters of the card game, but the descriptions of each card were sufficient. She paused at every card, contemplating how Guardromon could implement them against the Gururumon pack. She doubted they could take all of the pack out, especially the MetalGarurumon, but maybe they could hold them off until the other Tamers arrived.

Out of the corner of Asanuma-sensei's eye, she could see Hirokazu with his hands in his pockets, glancing curiously at her every now and then. She started to feel nervous. Even with their reconciliation, if she didn't find a good combo, then he was going to become annoyed and impatient. She had enough with arguments to last for the rest of the day.

Asanuma-sensei picked up another card and her eyes scanned the description. Her heartbeat cautiously sped up.

"What do you think of this card?" Asanuma-sensei asked, handing over the card in question.

Hirokazu eyed it warily. "You want me to use this card. Sure, it can cause a lot of damage, but it would be a drain to Guardromon. He wouldn't be able to rocket around after that and he might even devolve to his Child level. We'd be completely vulnerable to MetalGarurumon and any Gururumon that might survive the attack."

The memory of tripping over a dropped card and pocketing it irritably reemerged in her mind. She put her hand in her pocket and took out that card.

"How about this?"

Hirokazu's jaw dropped open. "Where did you get that card?"

"I tripped over it in the morning. I thought about throwing it away, but I decided to keep it for some reason. Is it a good card?"

"It's a great card." Hirokazu said faintly. "So this was the card Takato lost…"

"Takato lost it?"

"Yeah, he dropped it when he was attacked. He called us about it this morning." Hirokazu took the card from Asanuma-sensei and studied it. "This card will be helpful in the attack. And combined with that card you chose, we might be able to hold those doggies off until help arrives."

"So I've saved the day then?" Asanuma-sensei said, a bit of smugness entering her voice.

"Not so fast. We'll probably need to drop upon them and bunch them together. It'll all have to be quick, so we have a narrow window. We'll have to plan this carefully." Hirokazu gave a thoughtful pause. "Come over here, Guardromon."

Guardromon turned and stomped over to Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei.

"You have a plan, Hirokazu." Guardromon said hopefully.

"A bit of one. Just need to iron out the details with you." Hirokazu glanced at his teacher. "You too."

"Me?" Asanuma-sensei said, surprised.

"Yeah, you helped us find our combo." Hirokazu grinned. "Who knows, maybe you'll cook up a good plan to get us out of alive too."

Asanuma-sensei smiled. "Then I better get my brain working then."

Walking over, she joined the other two and they started to hatch their attack strategy.

*

The MetalGarurumon looked over the pack sniffing out the surroundings, a displeased expression on his face. Ever since the humans with the Guardromon rocketed out of sight, the Gururumon had tried to cover every inch of the neighborhood. They discovered a few humans holed up in their homes, but they didn't have the proper scent. The MetalGarurumon was growing impatient.

If the pack could just get their hands on those humans, then their power would be boosted significantly. A few of the MetalGarurumon's pack members had stumbled into the Real World. The lone survivor returned with a slightly higher level in strength and attacks. He tried to keep it quiet, but by the time he ran off greedily into the Real World, word got out that he received this slight boost through scratching a Digimon-bonded human. The MetalGarurumon had been intrigued by this possibility and led the rest of the pack into the Real World. He used some of his own strength to use the Digital Field in hopes of trapping the Digimon-bonded human and the data-scented human inside. If they got them, the pack's strength could possibly expand significantly and they could carve out some territory in the Digital World.

But everything wasn't going as the MetalGarurumon planned. By pure chance, the humans with the Guardromon have thoroughly evaded their senses. Was the sight and smell of a Digimon weaker in the Real World? Or were his pack just incompetent? The MetalGarurumon's displeased expression took on a deeper menace and the Gururumon nervously stepped up their search.

Just as the MetalGarurumon was considering making an example out of a member of the pack, explosions ripped the air. The Gururumon jumped in alarm as these explosions occurred right next to them. Some of these Gururumon limped around when the explosions occurred right on top of them. All of them ran around like decapitated chickens until the MetalGarurumon's angry barking restored order.

Then that order was broken up when explosions rained down on another part of the pack. There were injuries and hasty retreats. A few started shooting blue rays in the direction of the explosions, which ceased them at once.

The MetalGarurumon was starting to access his surroundings when the explosions resumed for a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time. Every time, the explosions struck a different group. Every time, there was panic until a few got the idea to shoot their Chaos Fire attacks. The pack eventually grouped together with their leader, not willing to be part of the stray group caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, Guardromon dared to rocket at a lower altitude in order to squint at the faint shapes below. He quickly took in all of their positions before he saw a Gururumon beginning to look in his direction. He swiftly ascended and Hirokazu and Asanuma-sensei gripped him more tightly.

"Have they spotted us?" Asanuma-sensei asked.

"I don't believe so." Guardromon replied. "They are watching their surroundings closely, but as far as I can tell, none of the fiends have seen us yet."

"Good." Hirokazu said. "Well, are those doggies all grouped together?"

"Affirmative."

"Good." Asanuma-sensei said. "Then we better attack now before they spot us or decide to turn their blue ray attacks on everything."

"I think the attack is called Chaos Fire." Hirokazu opined.

"Chaos Fire." Asanuma-sensei repeated. "Anyway, have you got the cards ready?"

"Right here." Hirokazu flashed the two cards, which were pinned between fingers.

"You better not drop them."

"Relax. I've nearly got myself killed dropping them enough times to know how to hold them." He slipped one card until they were gripped by his pinkie and ring finger while the other was adjusted into slashing position. Then he breathed deeply. "Alright, ready?"

Asanuma-sensei bit her lip, tightened her grip on Guardromon's shoulders, but nodded. Hirokazu glanced at Guardromon, who did his best approximation of a firm nod. Apparently heartened by these responses, Hirokazu turned his gaze toward the ground determinedly.

"Let's do this."

There was a burst from the rockets and Guardromon descended like a rock. As Asanuma-sensei maintained her grip on Guardromon with all of her strength, she heard Hirokazu yell as he slashed the power card. Knowing that the yell would have alerted the stiffened and angry figures of the pack below, she was relieved to hear the sound of another card being immediately slashed, followed by the announced of its name. Outrage growls and snarls preceded the complete emergence of the Gururumon pack into view. The ominous blue glows from their many maws made Asanuma-sensei's heart tense.

*Come on…anytime now…*

Her prayers were rewarded with the determined roar of Guardromon.

"Your reign of tyranny ends here!" he yelled. "Destruction…Grenade!"

A seemingly endless barrage of Guardromon's funny-shaped missiles was ejected from his arm ports. The missiles trailed clouds of smoke which obscured the enemies they rained down upon. Yelps and furious roars echoed faintly over the whistling and explosions. Faint orange burst of light could be seen through the white haze and they grew fainter as the additional missiles added more haze to the smoke.

Asanuma-sensei didn't know how long the attack went on, but when it finally ended, she was wondering where Guardromon stored all those missiles. She felt as though she had been firing those missiles too. Her pants racked the air along with Hirokazu and Guardromon's as the latter hovered warily in the air. They exchanged looks.

"Do you think we got them?" Asanuma-sensei said.

"I think so." Hirokazu said. "At least, I think we got most of the Gururumon."

"Do you mean that MetalGururumon might still be alive?" Asanuma-sensei said sharply.

"'MetalGarurumon,' my lady." Guardromon said, his voice exhausted, but firm. "And don't you concern yourself. At the very least, he is superbly wounded, in which case we'll have enough time to evade him until-"

A furious roar cut through Guardromon's assurance. There was a flash of blue. Even as Asanuma-sensei's shriek of warning pierced the air, Guardromon swerved to the side to avoid the column of iced air. But the aftershock from this column was powerful enough to send the exhausted Guardromon descending wildly to the concrete. Asanuma-sensei and Hirokazu held on with all their might as Guardromon tried to gain control of his descent. He blew his rockets harder and was able to slow the fall until he landed clumsily on his backside.

Guardromon groaned and creakily reached a hand to rub said backside. The pair's grip on the Digimon finally gave out and they collapsed onto the concrete.

"Oh, what happened?" Asanuma-sensei groaned.

"We barely survived the graze of an Ultimate attack." Hirokazu replied.

"But that graze was enough to put me out of commission." Guardromon said. "I don't think I can do more than run and dodge at this rate."

"Maybe that was MetalGarurumon's last hurrah." Asanuma-sensei suggested. "Or at least he's injured enough that he wouldn't be able to move…around…much…"

She trailed off, her eyes widening. Reluctantly, Hirokazu and Guardromon followed her gaze.

The smoke that covered the pack was clearing. Craters littered the ground, some of them the shape of the Gururumon who had been struck down. What few Gururumon that remained and didn't burst into data particles on the spot struggled to their feet. Wounds dotted their form and stained their fur. Growls and whimpers escaped their gritted teeth as they glared at the trio.

But those glares were nothing compared to the MetalGarurumon. The slightly fury in his gaze could have been enough to plunge temperatures to Antarctic levels. Asanuma-sensei, Hirokazu, and Guardromon were rooted to the spot as the MetalGarurumon rose to his feet. His metallic form was spotted with soot and the cracks were like spider webs, but he appeared to be otherwise unharmed.

"Crap." Hirokazu said nervously. "We're screwed."

"You have got to run!" Guardromon said, trying to creak to his feet. "I'll hold him off!"

"I can't leave you!" Hirokazu said, looking suddenly panicked.

"But you have got to protect Asanuma-sensei." Guardromon replied. "As a Tamer, it's your duty to protect the innocent."

Asananuma-sensei raised her gaze at the steadily advancing MetalGarurumon and his remaining pack. Then she lowered her gaze at Guardromon as his foot buckled in his valiant attempts to get up. Then she looked at Hirokazu, who gripped his partner's shoulder with a conflicted, pained expression. A flash of a sad girl with a Sock pocket went through her mind.

"I can't leave you either." Asanuma-sensei said. "We won't. There's got to be a way out of this."

Hirokazu and Guardromon stared at her. Then there was a deep growl and MetalGarurumon was almost upon them, icy steam leaving his maw. The trio braced themselves for the final attack.

Several events occurred in quick succession. Just as MetalGarurumon was about to unleash the cold energy gathering into his maw, there was an explosion of light. Everyone turned to see it glow more powerfully at the smothering fog. Asanuma-sensei only had time to think it looked like the light was struggling against the fog before it shot out. The light enveloped the remaining Gururumon and it brightened and brightened until their howls were drowned out. Then they were no more than data particles in the air. Asanuma-sensei, Hirokazu and Guardromon stared at where the Gururumon stood a second ago before turning to the source of the light

A tall figure was calmly walking through the hole in the fog, his crimson cape fluttering in the wind. Then the cape was thrown dramatically out of the wind's reach and there Dukemon stood.

"Demons who hunt innocents in the pursuit of power are unforgiveable." he said, his voice low. "Repent or I, Dukemon, shall strike you down in the name of justice"

MetalGarurumon's only response was a snarl. He charged at Dukemon, his ice attack preceding him. Dukemon simply brought up his shield and the attack made contact. There was a flash of white and the crackle of ice, but other than having a frozen shield, Dukemon's cape wasn't even ruffled.

"So be it then." He lowered his lance, and charged. "Royal Saber!"

The lance crackled with energy and a beam shot out. It made contact with MetalGarurumon and he froze as that same crackling energy overwhelmed him. Then the lance went through MetalGarurumon's metallic form. He gave one last roar as he dissolved into data particles.

Silence followed. Dukemon stared at the spot MetalGarurumon had occupied as the fog gradually dissipated. Then he turned and walked swiftly in the trio's direction.

"Are you alright Hirokazu, Guardromon?" Dukemon asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." Hirokazu answered, relieved. "You were just in time, Dukemon!"

Guardromon nodded. "You saved us. We're in debt to you."

"Debt." Dukemon said wryly. "That makes it how many times then?"

Hirokazu and Guardromon's only answer was laughter. Dukemon gazed at them fondly until he focused on the third member of the party. Then his gaze became bemused.

"What? Asanuma-sensei?"

"Hello, Takato-kun." Asanuma-sensei said, smiling weakly.

Dukemon glowed until he split into the form of a red dinosaur and a boy with an equally red nose.

"What is she doing here?" Takato asked, sounding slightly stuffy.

"She was the one who made the emergency call." Hirokazu replied. "Guardromon and I came to rescue her and we've been dodging Gururumon until she rescued us."

"Asanuma-sensei rescued you?" Takato said disbelievingly. Asanuma-sensei gave him a cool glare and he hastely added. "How?"

Hirokazu grinned. "She just so happened to have this card and gave it to us for our winning combo!"

Guilmon stepped forward to sniff the raised card. "Hey, it has Takato's scent on it!"

"Hirokazu says it's your card." Asanuma-sensei said. "So I presume you've saved us twice then!"

"You saved us by picking up that card!" Hirokazu said. "If you hadn't picked it up, then we would have been screwed!"

"And if you hadn't saved me from that Gururumon, I don't know what would have happened to me." Asanuma-sensei said. "Of course, your partner did most of the work there."

"Hey, I was the one who did all the thinking!" Hirokazu said indignantly.

"Are you implying that I don't do any thinking?" Guardromon said, offended.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that, I-"

Asanuma-sensei laughed. Hirokazu and Guardromon blinked at her before joining in. Takato and Guilmon just stood there, looking bemused.

"Did I miss something?" Takato asked.

"Oh, nothing of importance." Asanuma-sensei traded a look with Hirokazu, smiling. "I've just made up with your classmate after a disagreement."

"Alright…" Takato said, still bemused.

Asanuma-sensei stretched her arms as she got up.

"As interesting as that was, I have had enough of adventure for one day. Hirokazu, consider your previous detention null and void. You still need to behave, of course. And get some sleep."

"Right-o!" Hirokazu said.

"Guardromon. Make sure he stays safe."

"I always will, Asanuma-sensei." Guardromon nodded.

"Takato. We will discuss what you missed in class when you get well. I'm too exhausted to run back and give it to you here."

"Okay." Takato nodded carefully.

"As for you, Guilmon." she stared blankly at the red dinosaur. "Just makes sure he gets some sleep too."

"Alright!" Guilmon said brightly. "Sleeping with Takato is always fun!"

"As for me," Asanuma-sensei said, "I'm going to go home and not get out of bed for the next twenty-four hours. Expect the grading of all your work to be delayed."

Takato and Hirokazu nodded, their partners reflexively joining in.

"I'll see you all tomorrow." she continued. "So until then, farewell!"

She turned and began walking away.

"Bye, Asanuma-sensei!" Takato said, Guilmon echoing him.

"Farewell, Asanuma-sensei!" Guardromon called. "May your trip home be a safe one!"

"Bye, Asanuma-sensei!" Hirokazu yelled. "Look out for stray dogs!"

"Don't worry, I will!" Asanuma-sensei waved back.

As she started hearing the steps and stomps of the four departing, Asanuma-sensei felt a warm glow that outshined her fatigue. She had come into the teaching profession to look good to the community even though she had been never fond of children. Now there were at least a few individuals she was fond of and Hirokazu had risen to their ranks. As long as there were kids like him around, Asanuma-sensei knew her profession wasn't hopeless. If students can educate teachers on values as much as the other way around, then her future looked bright after all.

**The End**

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- Thanks once again to Higuchimon for proofreading the story.

- This is a request Dark Qiviut made many years ago. I've finally got it done!


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